The disinfection of airborne pathogens has been given more attention due to the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic and the increasing threat of bioterrorism. Pathogenic bioaerosols are a danger to humans and can be generated from a variety of sources; bioterrorism, occupational and agricultural processes, even coughing and sneezing aerosolize pathogens which can remain suspended and infectious for days. While there are a number of current bioaerosol control technologies including Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI), antimicrobial filters, and photocatalytic oxidation, they have some noticeable weaknesses. The current technologies not only suffer from being expensive to install and maintain, but also are ineffective against highly resistant bacterial endospores (e.g., anthrax spores).
Filtration is the most commonly used method for the removal of particles, viable and nonviable alike. For example, Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) filters are widely used in buildings to provide filtered breathing air to occupants. Nevertheless, sustained viability of microorganisms collected on the filters, their growth and reaerosolization are major concerns. In addition to HVAC filters, personal respiratory filters loaded with pathogens also present a health and safety concern. In case of pandemic, the lack of personal respiratory filters may require contaminated filters to be reused. Therefore, it is critically important to effectively inactivate pathogens collected on a variety of fibrous filter media.